Bash is an insane, yet cool, scripting language. It is the default on Linux systems. But sometimes I want to do more with a more capable language.
I tried Lua, but executing commands and dealing with stdout is a lot more code than good, old Bash.
Have you successfully replaces Bash with something else? Python, Fish, a compiled language even?

Isaac de Andrade

A developer seeks alternatives to Bash for scripting tasks, having found Lua more verbose for command execution and stdout handling. They're looking for community experiences with replacing Bash using Python, Fish shell, or compiled languages for more capable scripting solutions.

Replacing Bash for scripting?

I tried many. Bash has the tremendous advantage of being a bliss to work with using GNU tools (and other tools as well). When I need something more powerful than bash, I almost always default to python.

uv + shebang is gaining popularity. see
<ul>
<li><a href="https://bury-thomas.medium.com/shebang-uv-micro-automation-587b8d47a6fd" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">https://bury-thomas.medium.com/shebang-uv-micro-automation-587b8d47a6fd</a></li>
<li><a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42855258" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42855258</a></li>
</ul>

Yep man, you can use <a href="https://github.com/google/zx" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">zx</a>, a JavaScript library developed by Google to replace the bash scripts.

You can use JavaScript with Node using the right shebang line 😄

If I have to write a script that involves anything other than a list of commands, I have taught myself to resist the urge to use a Bash script. You will spend 3x as long trying to debug the thing.
I use python scripts with <code>#!/usr/bin/env -S uv run -s</code> with<a href="https://realpython.com/python-script-structure/#managing-dependencies-with-pep-723" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow"> pep 723 syntax </a> if there’re external dependencies. If there aren’t, then <code>#!/usr/bin/env python3</code>
You’ll be hard pressed to find a system that doesn’t have a recent-ish version of python installed. But PEP 723 + uv makes it dead simple to run scripts with dependencies in a transparent, pain free way